Audi declared early winner in crash-strewn Bathurst 12 Hour

Crashes on the first and last laps marked a frustrating Bathurst 12 Hour where Audi snatched an unlikely victory in race cut short by officials.

Event organisers stopped the race with 22 minutes remaining, robbing a record crowd of a finish set to pitch Supercars champion Jamie Whincup against Europe's finest drivers in a last-minute dash.

Early finish: Audi Sport Team WRT survived the carnage to claim victory in the 2018 Bathurst 12 Hour.

Photo: Edge Photographics

Audi, Mercedes and Porsche filled the top three positions when a major crash involving Australian contenders Ash Walsh and John Martin covered the top of the circuit in debris. Eventual winners Robin Frijns, Stuart Leonard and Dries Vanthoor benefited from the melee, as their car did not have enough fuel to make it to the end of a race run under regular conditions.

Dutch GT specialist Frijns was at the wheel when the race stopped – no driver took the chequered flag.

"I've never finished on a red flag," Frijns said.

Advertisement

"The crash looked quite tough – there was debris everywhere."

Frijns said his Audi R8 LMS would have stopped three laps short of victory. A frustrated Jamie Whincup had no choice but to settle for second place in his Mercedes-AMG GT3.

"We were all pretty tight on fuel," Whincup said. "We were hanging out to see what would happen in the end. As it turned out we had too much."

Whincup, who won the race on debut with Ferrari in 2017, said Supercars rival Chaz Mostert looked likely to win before an earlier crash.

"I feel bad for Chaz, he was certainly in the box seat as far as pace goes, but a big part of the race is trying to stay out of trouble," Whincup said.

Mostert was the man to beat in early running.

Starting from pole for BMW, he ran away from the field at every opportunity only to be reeled back by a safety car that interrupted proceedings on more than a dozen occasions. A mid-race pit lane penalty cruelled the BMW team's run before Mostert attempted a desperate lace-race passing manoeuvre that triggered a three-car crash at Forrest's Elbow.

Mostert's BMW joined a factory Bentley and privateer Porsche on the sidelines following the crash.

Rival drivers were angered by the Bathurst regular's approach, with Porsche's Kevin Estre saying it was "too much risk" and Bentley star Guy Smith telling trackside commentators the "horrendous" effort represented "terrible driving". Mostert's co-drivers defended the 2014 Bathurst 1000 winner, who apologised to his team following the smash.

Supercars fan favourites Craig Lowndes and Shane van Gisbergen were ruled out of the running when their McLaren shared with GT specialist Come Ledogar succumbed to heat issues, the rapid BMW M6 GT3 of Steven Richards had brake trouble, and the McLaren of Tim Slade failed to start following a late-race pit stop.

The contest was a stilted affair that struggled to find rhythm. Audi's winning crew received one of many penalties handed down throughout the race for a variety of reasons ranging from drivers failing to wear their seat belts properly to a minor collision between a Porsche competitor and the Holden of medical staff responding to another smash.

Loading

Several drivers were examined at a trackside medical centre during the race.

Paramedics airlifted Audi's Andrew Bagnall to a Sydney hospital for further examination following a particularly nasty shunt.